Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "House of Scindia" in English language version.
Ranoji Scindia (d. 1750), the founder of Gwalior state, started his political career reputedly as a slipper-bearer at the court of the peshwa, or prime minister, of the Marathas, but soon rose to high office.
The carrying of the Pallimaradi before the Zamorin on public occasions might have been due to the same reason as the carrying of a pair of golden slippers before Scindia, whose ancestor was the slipper - bearer of Peshwa Baji Rao - to show his respect for his original humble office which was the cause of his subsequent success
The Sindhias, it is well-known, were drawn from a Kunbi family which had the hereditary patel-ship of Kumberkerrab in the district of Wai. The origins of the Holkar were even more humble: they belonged to the caste of goat-herds (dungar), the family holding zamindari rights in the village of Hal.
Looking backward from ample material on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, we know that Maratha as a category of caste represents the amalgamation of families from several castes - Kunbi, Lohar, Sutar, Bhandari, Thakar, and even Dhangars (shepherds) – which existed in the seventeenth century and, indeed, exist as castes in Maharashtra today. What differentiated, for example, "Maratha" from "Kunbi"? It was precisely the martial tradition, of which they were proud, and the rights (watans and inams) they gained from military service. It was these rights which differentiated them from the ordinary cultivator, ironworkers and tailors, especially at the local level
Ranoji Scindia (d. 1750), the founder of Gwalior state, started his political career reputedly as a slipper-bearer at the court of the peshwa, or prime minister, of the Marathas, but soon rose to high office.
The carrying of the Pallimaradi before the Zamorin on public occasions might have been due to the same reason as the carrying of a pair of golden slippers before Scindia, whose ancestor was the slipper - bearer of Peshwa Baji Rao - to show his respect for his original humble office which was the cause of his subsequent success
The Sindhias, it is well-known, were drawn from a Kunbi family which had the hereditary patel-ship of Kumberkerrab in the district of Wai. The origins of the Holkar were even more humble: they belonged to the caste of goat-herds (dungar), the family holding zamindari rights in the village of Hal.
Looking backward from ample material on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, we know that Maratha as a category of caste represents the amalgamation of families from several castes - Kunbi, Lohar, Sutar, Bhandari, Thakar, and even Dhangars (shepherds) – which existed in the seventeenth century and, indeed, exist as castes in Maharashtra today. What differentiated, for example, "Maratha" from "Kunbi"? It was precisely the martial tradition, of which they were proud, and the rights (watans and inams) they gained from military service. It was these rights which differentiated them from the ordinary cultivator, ironworkers and tailors, especially at the local level